Signature Urban Properties, a new development group headed by former City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, has snapped up a stretch of derelict blocks on West Farms Road and wants the city to rezone the strip so it can build 10 high-rise buildings boasting 1,300 apartments and shops, according to an article by Daniel Beekman in yesterday's edition of The New York Daily News.
It would be one of the largest private rezones in the Bronx since Co-op City, according to the Department of City Planning.
Mr. Miller's group expects the project, which overlooks the Sheridan Expressway and the Bronx River, to cost up to $400 million, the article said, adding that "it will seek public funds to keep half the apartments affordable and charge market rate for the rest.
"The Bronx has been coming back," said Miller. "We want to build on the work people have done to make this neighborhood even better."
"The land - 215,000 square feet, just north and south of the Cross Bronx Expressway - is now zoned for light industry. It includes a city impound lot, an abandoned steel shop, a marble factory, a sausage factory that plans to leave town and lots of colorful graffiti," the article said.
"Derrick Lovett, CEO of MBD Housing, a local nonprofit, called the 'blighted area' now owned by Signature a magnet for crime. 'You have mostly vacant, abandoned buildings,' said Lovett, arguing the neighborhood desperately needs new homes," the article said.
A handful of blocks not owned by Signature also would be rezoned under the proposal, including a playground, auto shops and a lumberyard.
Signature's land borders Crotona Park East, a neighborhood of tenements, public housing, newer townhouses and several schools.
Mr. Miller said the new housing would draw neighbors from Crotona Park East down to the Bronx River and connect them to Starlight Park across the waterway, the article said, adding that "Signature hopes to carve out leafy public plazas between the new buildings, allowing passersby to walk between West Farms Road and Boone Avenue. West Farms Road, deserted and dangerous at night, would become a bustling corridor under Signature's plan, with shops below buildings up to 15 stories.
The rezone is slated for public review starting next month. Community Boards 3 and 6, the borough president and the City Council will judge the proposal, which could be approved by next year.
"They have a good plan," said Ivine Galarza, district manager of Board 6. "The area has been an eyesore for years."
Mr. Miller said the development, Signature's first, would take shape over five to seven years. It could affect the fate of the Sheridan, a mile-long spur that some local advocates want to raze and replace with parks and housing. State and city planners are now studying the road, a common route for trucks headed to and from the Hunts Point meat, fish and produce markets.
It would be one of the largest private rezones in the Bronx since Co-op City, according to the Department of City Planning.
Mr. Miller's group expects the project, which overlooks the Sheridan Expressway and the Bronx River, to cost up to $400 million, the article said, adding that "it will seek public funds to keep half the apartments affordable and charge market rate for the rest.
"The Bronx has been coming back," said Miller. "We want to build on the work people have done to make this neighborhood even better."
"The land - 215,000 square feet, just north and south of the Cross Bronx Expressway - is now zoned for light industry. It includes a city impound lot, an abandoned steel shop, a marble factory, a sausage factory that plans to leave town and lots of colorful graffiti," the article said.
"Derrick Lovett, CEO of MBD Housing, a local nonprofit, called the 'blighted area' now owned by Signature a magnet for crime. 'You have mostly vacant, abandoned buildings,' said Lovett, arguing the neighborhood desperately needs new homes," the article said.
A handful of blocks not owned by Signature also would be rezoned under the proposal, including a playground, auto shops and a lumberyard.
Signature's land borders Crotona Park East, a neighborhood of tenements, public housing, newer townhouses and several schools.
Mr. Miller said the new housing would draw neighbors from Crotona Park East down to the Bronx River and connect them to Starlight Park across the waterway, the article said, adding that "Signature hopes to carve out leafy public plazas between the new buildings, allowing passersby to walk between West Farms Road and Boone Avenue. West Farms Road, deserted and dangerous at night, would become a bustling corridor under Signature's plan, with shops below buildings up to 15 stories.
The rezone is slated for public review starting next month. Community Boards 3 and 6, the borough president and the City Council will judge the proposal, which could be approved by next year.
"They have a good plan," said Ivine Galarza, district manager of Board 6. "The area has been an eyesore for years."
Mr. Miller said the development, Signature's first, would take shape over five to seven years. It could affect the fate of the Sheridan, a mile-long spur that some local advocates want to raze and replace with parks and housing. State and city planners are now studying the road, a common route for trucks headed to and from the Hunts Point meat, fish and produce markets.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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